to listen or purchase
The final track on Live Love Fly High finds singer Sulpacio Jones engaging in a bit of advocacy for independent artists. She implores music fans to support indie artists by purchasing and sharing music and attending live shows. Jones could have started Live Love Fly High with that charge, and her decision to hold the statement until the end says something about the quality of the work on the preceding 11 tracks. Jones’ plea would fall flat and she’d be doing her fellow indie artists no favors if she failed to deliver the goods, but Live Love Fly High turns out to be a unique, entertaining and well balanced take on that R&B staple, the relationship song.
The final track on Live Love Fly High finds singer Sulpacio Jones engaging in a bit of advocacy for independent artists. She implores music fans to support indie artists by purchasing and sharing music and attending live shows. Jones could have started Live Love Fly High with that charge, and her decision to hold the statement until the end says something about the quality of the work on the preceding 11 tracks. Jones’ plea would fall flat and she’d be doing her fellow indie artists no favors if she failed to deliver the goods, but Live Love Fly High turns out to be a unique, entertaining and well balanced take on that R&B staple, the relationship song.
The bluesy/nu-soul fusion of “Anotha Lover” is one track that probably falls into the category of a unique take. The song starts with a woman looking at the signs and growing suspicion that her man is being unfaithful. The turn comes when she decides to play detective and[HD1] follow the cad. It turns out that her suspicions are confirmed in a way that is kind of unexpected but then too, kinda not.
Jones displays a mastery of a variety of R&B styles throughout Live Love Fly High. She glides easily into the up-tempo dance area on the pulsating disco track “He Stays,” which finds her waxing rhapsodic about the man who has taken up permanent residents in her thoughts. She displays a control of her instrument that allows her to move from the frenetic pace on “He Stays” to adopting a cooing and conversational tone on “Cold Outside,” a track where she bids the object of her desire to come in from the cold of an unsatisfying relationship and into the warmth of her physical and emotional embrace.
“If You Don’t Mind” sports an arrangement that starts out with an embrace of contemporary production techniques before breaking down into a percussive explosion augmented with some jazz inspired piano improvisation toward the end. Jones tells a story that gives listeners an entrée into her state of mind as she works up the courage to approach a guy that she’s been noticing. “Lonely” is a track that goes fully in on the contemporary hip-hop inspired production techniques with its programmed drums laying down a shuffle march beat while Jones seductively puts her cards on the table.
The title track has a simple acoustic arrangement that allows Jones to display her vocal range on a song that serves as her affirmation of love and her determination to rise above whatever issues threaten to bring her down. “As I lay in bed at night/My mind sometimes finds a way to fly/As I’m soaring through the stars/It’s like nothing can touch me/For a moment I’m free/I’m free to live love and fly high.”
Live Love Fly High stands as Sulpacio Jones’ sales pitch for herself, and she closes the deal well before reaching that final statement. Hard core indie soul fans will always support unsigned artists because they realize that the overall quality of the music is consistently high even if an individual album or artist fails to impress. However, the San Diego native’s solid effort will help advance her career and whet the appetite of the indie soul novice. Recommended
By Howard Dukes